The Australian media landscape is a live and perpetually evolving beast, the nature of which has undergone rapid transformation, particularly in the last decade. Public Relations professionals now have to determine the value of online vs print, journalist vs influencer and indeed, formal publication vs blog. The end game is to reach the right people at the right time, but with the ever growing scope of media, the role of PR is to place a strategic lens on the vast array of possible outlets.

When it comes to corporate reputation management and media relations, clients often believe that mainstream coverage is best as it reaches the widest audience, but is this in fact the most strategic way of conducting outreach? Let’s explore further.

Targeted Outreach

It’s easy to determine the value of publications judged solely on their circulation, the rationale being that the more people reached, the better. While this is, to a point, the value of strategic media relations lies in looking deeper into metrics such as stakeholder engagement. Trade publications provide a wealth of value as they connect your message to a niche audience that are the most relevant to your industry sector.

While mainstream press provides wide audience reach, trade publications provide a platform to provide specalised content to a targeted audience of readers, hosting a greater concentration of decision makers in any given industry. This provides superior engagement and greater alignment of technical specific updates, the likes of which could only very rarely be achieved by mainstream press.

For industry professionals and decision makers, the trade publication relevant to their industry is often the go-to source of information for industry specific announcements. Therefore, the news featured in these trade outlets carries far more weight than if a similar announcement was featured in a generic, mass market outlet. Industry press closely follow and report on vendor movements, trends, analysis and executive appointments.

That is not to discount the value of mass coverage, however. Major newspapers, for instance, have specific editors and reporters that cover the specific industry or beat that they’re assigned to. Usually, these industry experts in the mainstream press started out in the trade press before moving to mainstream media. At that level, though, the detail covered is limited and often doesn’t include the all-important messaging that would otherwise get cut through, making the initial outreach less impactful.

Boosting Credibility and Trust

With the rising instance of disinformation and misinformation, the importance of trust and credibility has exploded in recent years. Couple this with a gradual decrease in public trust in mainstream media and there is a case to be made that coverage attained in the trade press is largely spared the scepticism typically levied at politically skewed mainstream media.

Readers who engage with content featured in the trade media already know the type of news and features they want to engage with, and this familiarity builds credibility and trust over time.